The Dear Leader Hugo Chavez wishes to announce that all residents of Caracas, the capital of the most enlightened country is the Western Hemisphere, will now have the honor of going without water for up to 48 hours every week.

Residents of the Venezuelan capital face cuts in water service for as much as 48 hours per week, after the government imposed rationing to stem a 25 percent shortfall in the city's supply, officials said Monday.

Officials said cuts in water service were to be staggered throughout Caracas through the duration of the current dry season, which is not expected to end until May 2010.

On the heels of our successful water rationing in Caracas, the Dear Leader Hugo Chavez, leader of the most enlightened country in the Western Hemisphere, wishes to announce that our oil rich nation will now begin rationing the use of electricity. This are not to be seen as a weakness of our successful nation, rather, it just serves to prove the wisdom of our nation in recognizing that reduced electrical usage will help save the planet from global warming.

Oil-rich Venezuela ushered in 2010 with new measures rationing electricity use in malls, businesses and billboards, as Hugo Chavez's government aimed to save power amid a crippling drought.

The new regulations came into effect January 1, with businesses required to comply with reduced consumption limits and authorities warning of forced power cuts and rate hikes if the measures are not followed.

A decree published on Christmas Eve states that commercial centers may operate from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm on the electricity grid, but beyond that establishments would have to operate off-grid, using their own generators.

With the country in a widespread drought, late last year Chavez announced a sweeping campaign to reduce widespread energy "waste," stressing that rationing was necessary to avoid a systemic "collapse."

Shopping centers in Caracas Saturday opened at the appointed new hour, although industry representatives called for extending the time frame, arguing that night-time energy consumption is less than 10 percent of the total.

The power crunch is expected to have an impact on a wide variety of businesses, including cinemas, casinos and bingo halls.

Establishments failing to comply with the measures could face outages for a period of 24 hours, and up to 72-hour suspensions "in case of recidivism," according to the decree.

The regulation also orders businesses to institute savings plans aimed at shedding consumption by at least 20 percent, a measure that will be evaluated monthly by the newly-created ministry of electricity.

Tariff surcharges of up to 20 percent could be imposed on violators.

Rationing is also to apply to lighted advertisements.

Introductory measures were evident in Caracas last month, with the neon signs that traditionally welcome Christmas left unlit.

The state-controlled aluminum and steel industries halted some of their production lines in order to reduce energy consumption by some 560 megawatts (MW).

Electricity demand in Venezuela is more than 16,500 MW, far higher than what is currently generated. Experts say the power sector requires 18 billion dollars in investment through 2014.

In 2009 there were four nationwide blackouts, with daily failures common in several cities.

The Dear Leader thanks you for your continued support for the Revolution.

PS Please disregard the lights burning round the clock in the Presidential Compound. The Dear Leader is awake round the clock and working hard to find ways to improve our country.

_________________The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.- misattributed to Alexis De Tocqueville

No representations made as to the accuracy of info in posted news articles or links

Not sure that problems in electricity show the weakness of the “socialist” system used by Venezuela. After all, there were some problems of electricity in California some years ago because of deregulation and privatization. And California is the richest state of the richest country in the world.

Not sure that problems in electricity show the weakness of the “socialist” system used by Venezuela. After all, there were some problems of electricity in California some years ago because of deregulation and privatization. And California is the richest state of the richest country in the world.

I would say that both cases show the inadequacies of government "regulations" that are driven by socialist / green ideology rather than pragmatism.

We just went for some time without any hot water (and no heating) over here. Also, in accordance with true finnish efficiency, there was no information available at all: people weren't told that this had happened- you would only notice it when your house got colder and you couldn't take a shower. Also, no one told anyone why and how long it would last. It was only -20c outside, so no big deal.

I love Finland. We are so superior in everything, at least according to official dogma. We say that we are incredibly advanced, but we are surprisingly backwards in many fields, such as internet services, internet connections etc. But just like in communist states, saying that we are superior is a good substitute for actually being good.

_________________All scientists across the world work for US Democratic Party

We just went for some time without any hot water (and no heating) over here. Also, in accordance with true finnish efficiency, there was no information available at all: people weren't told that this had happened- you would only notice it when your house got colder and you couldn't take a shower. Also, no one told anyone why and how long it would last. It was only -20c outside, so no big deal.

I love Finland. We are so superior in everything, at least according to official dogma. We say that we are incredibly advanced, but we are surprisingly backwards in many fields, such as internet services, internet connections etc. But just like in communist states, saying that we are superior is a good substitute for actually being good.

Saying so makes for good public relations. However, as was often the norm in the Eastern Bloc countries, the populaion more than often did not believe the claims coming from the state Politburo.

Also, the state can say what it wants, however, as happened in the Eastern Bloc countries, eventually, the house of cards collapsed.

_________________The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.- misattributed to Alexis De Tocqueville

No representations made as to the accuracy of info in posted news articles or links

Not sure that problems in electricity show the weakness of the “socialist” system used by Venezuela. After all, there were some problems of electricity in California some years ago because of deregulation and privatization. And California is the richest state of the richest country in the world.

I would say that both cases show the inadequacies of government "regulations" that are driven by socialist / green ideology rather than pragmatism.

So if deregulation didn’t work, it is because California didn’t carry out deregulation enough? I am not sure that I must trust that. If I understand well the situation in the United States, before the deregulation, the electricity was produced by a little number of corporate owner utilities. If you install more deregulation, you will increase the power of those corporate owner utilities, and then you will increase their monopoly. They will do what they want; nothing can stop them if they want to increase the price of electricity. There is a situation of oligopoly, not a big concurrence which could decrease the price of electricity for the consumers.Otherwise, here an article about deregulation in California. I don’t understand everything, but it seems to be an interesting reading.http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010212/wasserman

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